The future of work is hybrid. What’s that mean for EO?
Hybrid working is a catalyst that should strengthen your competitive advantage as an employee-owned organisation, says Jeremy Gadd. But first leaders need to understand the opportunity – and why involving employee owners early is the best way to establish a model that suits the most important people in the room: your clients.
Two years ago, who had heard of ‘hybrid working’? Google it today and you’ll find no fewer than 11,400,000,000 mentions, and counting: the pros, the cons, the latest stats, practical tips.
But if the future of work is hybrid, what does that mean for EO – is the challenge different? And how can hybrid working give employee-owned (EO) organisations the edge over other business models right now?
Our workplace and work-life balance – rebooted
Arguably, the challenge of hybrid working is the same whether you’re employee-owned or not. It’s flexible working by a new name, and that’s been around for years.
But the scale and speed at which Covid-19 has forced hybrid working to be adopted make it THE major workplace shift of our times. It has leap-frogged government legislation, transforming thought into action as thousands of us moved overnight to working from home.
What we perceive as ‘normal’ working practice has shifted, and it hasn’t settled – yet. Organisationally and as individuals, we continue to grapple with where and how we want to ‘do’ business as the pandemic evolves, with the CIPD’s People Management magazine reporting that 36% of people don’t want to return to ‘business as normal’.
In fact, the CIPD’s Embedding new ways of working post-pandemic report found that around 40% of employers expect more than half their workforce to work regularly from home once the pandemic has ended.
And in September an exclusive YouGov survey for the BBC went further, revealing that 70% of those polled thought workers would ‘never return to offices at the same rate’ [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58559179].
Making the most of the EO advantage
Most organisations are now working through the implications of this major cultural shift. What does this mean specifically for those who are employee-owned?
Two things are clear. People have seen the value of remote working. They appreciate that, done well, it can enable them to be more productive and support a healthier work-life balance, bringing fresh opportunities for careers to flourish now (some of) the geographical restraints have gone.
At the same time, people have seen the value of being together and working collaboratively – the power of real time / real place connection. Most work is, after all, built on relationships. Those ‘water cooler’ moments have never seemed so precious.
Establishing a pattern that suits the structure, sector and size of your own business is where the true opportunity for EO organisations now lies because effective hybrid working relies on trust and effective communication.
Here’s why a well-run employee-owned business should have a head start on this over other models now.
EO businesses should already be benefitting from a well-informed, values-driven and inclusive workforce with a strong sense of personal and collective responsibility.
EO businesses should already have the communication and engagement channels in place that allow then to quickly identify and capitalise on the opportunities of hybrid working.
EO businesses may find agreeing new hybrid working policy and procedures a challenge, but the connectivity their EO model promotes means that an open conversation about this between leaders, employee trustees and employee owners should already be taking place.
‘Most work is, after all, built on relationships.
Those ‘water cooler’ moments have never seemed so precious’
JEREMY GADD
Learn from what’s working already
Covid has taught us agility, but hybrid working on this scale, at this pace, against a backdrop of such economic uncertainty, is the Great Unknown for most organisations.
The best EO businesses are already capturing what’s worked well during the pandemic. They are using that knowledge to innovate as they reimagine their future workplace and redefine the space they need.
If they are office-based, they are shrinking their space and using what remains differently, blending face-to-face and virtual communication via new technologies. They are travelling less and only with good reason.
I’ve spoken to EOA members who have moved projects on by several years because of hybrid working – making the most of the chance to do things differently. But what about the organisations who aren’t?
It’s what happens next that counts
It’s not too late. Here are four ways in which the leaders of forward-thinking employee-owned businesses can now get the most out of hybrid working.
Use the debate around hybrid working to test and deepen your employee owners’ understanding of the business you share. Make it engaging.
Actively involve your employee owners in designing the hybrid working solution that works for you all. Make it inclusive.
Use your Values or Guiding Principles (if you have them) to test the arguments for and against different models of hybrid working. Make them matter.
Strengthen your business’s relationship with your employee owners by using the discussion around hybrid working to reinvigorate their responsibility as co-owners. And don’t forget to highlight the rewards!
The shift to hybrid working – as with any organisational transformation – reinforces the need for adult conversation. In practice, the nature, size and complexity of your business will determine what it means for you.
Harnessing the power of ‘us’
But what happens when hybrid working isn’t an option for every employee owner who would like it – for example, in a hands-on farming, construction, retail or healthcare environment?
Take Riverford Organic Farmers, a good example of a forward-thinking employee-owned business that was named one of the TOP 100 Companies to Work For in 2021. Employee owners can’t WFH while harvesting and packing your seasonal veg boxes or delivering orders to your customers’ doors.
How do you pre-empt a culture of ‘them and us’? Use your model to foster a greater sense of inclusion. Work honestly through the issue together, as employee owners with a shared interest in seeing your business do well.
The simple act of having the debate will build understanding and acceptance of why something that’s not available to all might feel ‘unfair’ or ‘wrong’. It will also strengthen engagement and create more effective results.
Putting your customers first
Ultimately, whether your organisation is employee-owned or not, the hybrid model you choose must work for one person above anyone else: your customer (or client or patient, depending on the sectors you serve).
So the first question in any debate should be, ‘What do our customers want?’ And the second: ‘How can we best support them?’
In employee-owned organisations, hybrid working should be a catalyst for a great conversation with your employee owners around how you collectively make things better – more efficient, more engaging – for the people you serve. And how you make your business more productive and sustainable for yourselves, to unlock more fulfilling results.
An employee-owned business should be more keenly focused on this than any other because its employee owners – as owners – should already have a clearer understanding of their customers and the rewards you all share.
Ask them how hybrid working can make you a stronger business. Use your employee representative bodies to bring this debate to life.
What to do now
At J Gadd Associates, we understand the pressure on employee-owned businesses to work at pace and embrace hybrid working. We can help. By facilitating conversations, we can enable your leadership team to clarify their strategic approach, secure your employee owners’ input and engage your employee representative bodies in shaping the best results.
Please get in touch here to find out more.